Jayco Trash Compactor Murders: Close Indiana’s Animal Cruelty Loophole NOW
Jayco Trash Compactor Murders: Close Indiana’s Animal Cruelty Loophole NOW
The Issue
To: Indiana Governor Mike Braun, the Indiana General Assembly (especially the House and Senate Agriculture & Rural Development Committees), and Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker
On February 27, 2025, two living cats were placed in a box, taped up, thrown into a trash compactor, and brutally murdered at the Jayco RV plant in Middlebury, Indiana. Three employees admitted the act and were initially charged with Level 6 felonies. Yet on June 13 those charges were dismissed after prosecutors cited a loophole in state law—Indiana Code § 35-46-3-5(a)(10)—which lets anyone kill a vertebrate animal that is *“destroying or damaging a person’s property.”*
We, the undersigned, demand immediate legislative action to protect feral and free-roaming cats from this outdated exemption and to require humane, veterinary-approved methods if lethal control is ever truly necessary.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Cats are family—and legally “domestic animals.” Current law gives cats full cruelty protection (§ 35-46-3-12) but then wipes it away if someone merely claims “property damage.”
The loophole is being exploited. Prosecutors said the compactor deaths caused no “prolonged suffering,” so no one will face consequences for an act most Hoosiers find morally repugnant.
Humane alternatives exist. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), relocation, deterrents, or certified euthanasia by a veterinarian are readily available and endorsed by animal-welfare professionals.
We call on Indiana lawmakers to:
Amend § 35-46-3-5(a)(10) to exclude cats (and other companion animals) from the “property-damage” exemption.
Mandate humane, veterinary-approved euthanasia whenever lethal control of any vertebrate companion animal is unavoidable.
Restore the dismissed cruelty charges or publicly state why justice cannot proceed.
Our pledge
We pledge to contact our own representatives, share this petition, and support organizations pursuing humane solutions—because no animal deserves to die crushed in a trash compactor.
Add your name to tell Indiana: cruelty disguised as “property protection” is still cruelty.
1,763
The Issue
To: Indiana Governor Mike Braun, the Indiana General Assembly (especially the House and Senate Agriculture & Rural Development Committees), and Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker
On February 27, 2025, two living cats were placed in a box, taped up, thrown into a trash compactor, and brutally murdered at the Jayco RV plant in Middlebury, Indiana. Three employees admitted the act and were initially charged with Level 6 felonies. Yet on June 13 those charges were dismissed after prosecutors cited a loophole in state law—Indiana Code § 35-46-3-5(a)(10)—which lets anyone kill a vertebrate animal that is *“destroying or damaging a person’s property.”*
We, the undersigned, demand immediate legislative action to protect feral and free-roaming cats from this outdated exemption and to require humane, veterinary-approved methods if lethal control is ever truly necessary.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Cats are family—and legally “domestic animals.” Current law gives cats full cruelty protection (§ 35-46-3-12) but then wipes it away if someone merely claims “property damage.”
The loophole is being exploited. Prosecutors said the compactor deaths caused no “prolonged suffering,” so no one will face consequences for an act most Hoosiers find morally repugnant.
Humane alternatives exist. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), relocation, deterrents, or certified euthanasia by a veterinarian are readily available and endorsed by animal-welfare professionals.
We call on Indiana lawmakers to:
Amend § 35-46-3-5(a)(10) to exclude cats (and other companion animals) from the “property-damage” exemption.
Mandate humane, veterinary-approved euthanasia whenever lethal control of any vertebrate companion animal is unavoidable.
Restore the dismissed cruelty charges or publicly state why justice cannot proceed.
Our pledge
We pledge to contact our own representatives, share this petition, and support organizations pursuing humane solutions—because no animal deserves to die crushed in a trash compactor.
Add your name to tell Indiana: cruelty disguised as “property protection” is still cruelty.
1,763
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition created on June 25, 2025